NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 281 



Plusia moneta (Second Brood) at Reading. — On June 8th I found 

 in my garden one larva of the above; it spun up on the 13th and 

 emerged July 6th, and I netted a worn specimen on the 16th. On 

 August 18th I found one larva and five cocoons, from which I reared 

 five perfect specimens. They emerged — August 27th, two ; 28th, one ; 

 80th, one ; and September 2nd, one. The larva I found on the same 

 day, August 13th, spun on the side of a glass, and as I was going away 

 for my holidays I very carefully removed it, so that I could take it 

 with me. In the operation, however, I, no doubt, injured it, for that 

 was the only one that did not attain the perfect state. — W. E. Butler ; 

 Hayling House, Reading, October 16th, 1905. 



Second Broods of Lepidoptera. — I may mention that on August 

 18th last I netted three perfectly fresh Aneylis (Phoxopteryx) derasana, 

 I am aware that this pretty species is occasionally double-brooded, but 

 I had only met with it on one previous occasion. On Sept. 19th last 

 I took two perfect specimens of Gypsonoma (Hedya) aceriana on a fence 

 in South Croydon ; it is possible that these may have been a partial 

 second brood, but I have never known it to occur with this species or 

 its near allies. I first noticed the imago on July 1st last, and, as 

 usual, it kept coming out all through that month into early August ; 

 but then it disappeared, to crop up again on the above-mentioned 

 exceptionally late date ! — A. Thurnall ; Thornton Heath, Oct. 4th. 



[Since the above was written I, yesterday (Oct. 9th), boxed a per- 

 fectly fresh G. aceriana, and saw two others (unfortunately out of 

 reach) apparently equally fine.] 



Epiblema (Phl.eodes) immundana F. E. — I wish to record a fact to 

 which I can find no allusion in any work on the Tortrices. Collectors 

 of these insects will remember that on the dorsal margin of the above- 

 named species there is always to be traced a more or less conspicuous 

 blotch of a brownish colour in the first brood, but often (in, say, forty 

 per cent.) of the second brood this blotch is nearly or quite pure 

 white. I have never observed this in any specimens of the first brood. 

 What can be the reason for this difference ? I first met with this 

 white-patched form as far back as September, 1890, and wondered at 

 the time what it could be. This year I saw dozens of the ordinary 

 form in April and May, and in August a large number of their descen- 

 dants with the white blotch, although others could not be told from 

 the normally marked first brood. — A. Thurnall ; Thornton Heath, 

 October 4th, 1905. 



Early Hybernation of Vanessa urticje. — On August 23rd I noticed 

 a specimen of V. urtica on the ceiling of a cellar stairway in my house. 

 To-day (October 16th) I see it is still there, and seemingly has not 

 moved since I first noticed it. — T. Baxter ; St. Anne's-on-Sea. 



A Raid by Nabis limbatus. — On September 13th, while we were 

 resting in some fields near Theydon Bois, Essex, we were much inte- 

 rested in watching a struggle taking place in a hedge between a herni- 

 pterous insect and a crane-fly. The bug had seized the fly by its left 

 wing, and was striving, in a determined manner, to drag its prey 

 away. The fly offered a stout but bootless resistance, in the course of 



ENTOM. — NOVEMBER, 1905. 2 A 



